Riddle of the fake earl solved (UK)

Lord Buckingham – as the inmate in a British prison styles himself – is likely to be a former US spy called Charlie

THE mystery surrounding the identity of a man who stole a name from a baby’s headstone and styled himself the Earl of Buckingham is about to be solved.

The Times has learnt that the bogus earl, who is in Elmley Prison, Kent, is believed to be an American citizen and former member of a US Navy intelligence unit who disappeared from his home in Florida in 1983. His real name is thought to be Charles Albert Stopford, known as Charlie, the eldest of nine children of Charles and Barbara Stopford.